AppFolio pricing 2026: plans, per-unit cost and minimums

It's Tuesday morning at a property management office with around sixty doors. A tenant texted a photo of a water stain to your personal cell at 6:40. An owner wants to know why her statement shows two plumber invoices. The leasing inquiry from the weekend is still sitting in a shared inbox nobody has opened. You've outgrown the spreadsheet, a colleague swears by AppFolio, and you want to know what AppFolio pricing actually comes to before you sit through a demo.

I checked AppFolio's pricing page on October 28, 2026. Every AppFolio number below comes from that page. It changes, so look again before you sign anything.

AppFolio pricing at a glance

AppFolio charges per unit, per month, across three plans. Each price is a starting figure with an asterisk.

The footnote on every plan reads "Minimum spend and units apply. Contact us for details." The page lists no minimum spend amount, no onboarding or implementation fee, no contract length, and no annual billing rate. There's no free trial either, only a button to book a demo. So you'll need a sales call to get your real number.

What each plan includes

Each tier includes everything in the one below it. Core covers the day-to-day: property accounting and reports, marketing and leasing, work orders, inspections and unit turns, mobile access, integrated communication, standard integrations, the Realm-X Assistant and Messages, purchase orders and inventory tracking, and standard support.

Plus adds affordable and student housing capabilities, advanced budgeting and accounting, advanced data analysis, custom fields, Realm-X Flows, premium integrations, a read-only API, enhanced support, maintenance scheduling with automated billing, and an accounting tool for bill entry and financial close.

Max adds a leasing CRM, Leasing Signals, a read and write API, a dedicated customer success manager, and budgeting in that same accounting tool.

For a small residential portfolio, I'd start with Core. Plus earns its price if you run affordable or student housing, need custom fields and real budgeting, or want AppFolio's workflow tool.

What AppFolio costs at 50, 100 and 200 units

Here's the per-unit price times the door count. These are floors. Any minimum spend, onboarding fee or add-on goes on top, and the page doesn't publish those.

The Plus and Max rows assume your portfolio meets their unit minimums, which aren't on the page. If you manage fewer than 50 units, the page's footnote says you're under Core's minimum. Ask sales whether you'd pay for 50 regardless.

Fees the pricing page doesn't show

Rent payments, tenant screening and add-on services usually change what software like this really costs. AppFolio's pricing page says nothing about payment processing fees or screening fees. It mentions optional "value-added services" without listing a price for any of them. A resident experience page on AppFolio's site says residents can pay by eCheck or card, but it doesn't list fees either.

You'll see fee figures on review sites and in tenant forums. I'm leaving them out because AppFolio doesn't publish them where I could check. On the demo, ask three questions: what a resident pays per eCheck and per card payment, what screening costs and who pays for it, and what the minimum monthly spend is at your door count.

AppFolio vs Buildium for a small portfolio

For a smaller office, the choice usually comes down to AppFolio or Buildium. I also checked Buildium's pricing page on October 28, 2026.

Under 50 doors, Buildium is the one that publishes a price you can start on today. Past 50, compare AppFolio's quote against Buildium's at your real unit count, fees included. I broke down every Buildium fee in Buildium pricing 2026.

What a small office still does by hand on AppFolio

AppFolio can only work with what gets into it, and most of the hand work happens before anything does.

• Tenants skip the portal. They text your cell, leave voicemails, and email whoever they last talked to, so someone has to read each one, decide how urgent it is, and type it into a work order. I compared the two intake routes in portal vs text for tenant maintenance requests.
• After-hours calls need sorting. A burst pipe at 10 p.m. needs a person and a dripping faucet can wait until morning, but you usually can't tell which is which until you've listened to the voicemail.
• A few tenants still haven't paid. Reminders before the 1st are easy. The real work is following up on the 3rd and the 6th, usually with the same few people. Here's a set of payment reminder messages you can adapt.
• Owners still ask questions. The reports are there, but owners email anyway to ask how their unit is doing, and you end up writing the answer yourself.

Automating around AppFolio without moving up a plan

You don't need Plus or Max to cover most of that list. These pieces sit in front of the plan you already have:

1. One intake number and inbox for maintenance. Texts, voicemails and emails get transcribed, tagged by unit and urgency, and handed to the right person or entered as a work order.
2. An after-hours rule that rings your phone for words like leak, flood, no heat or gas, and sends everything else a reply saying when someone will follow up.
3. A late-rent sequence on the 2nd, 4th and 6th for anyone who still shows a balance. It's written in your voice and stops as soon as they pay.
4. A short monthly note to each owner with rent collected, open work orders and anything you flagged, so the "how's my unit" emails stop.

The page lists the API on Plus (read only) and Max (read and write). On Core, I build these around the calls, texts and emails before they reach AppFolio, so nothing depends on the API. Builds start at $500 one-time, then a flat monthly from $99 after an included run-in period, cancellable. If your phone is quiet and Core's built-in communication tools are enough, I'll tell you that. More on how this works for portfolios is on the property management automation page.

What stays with a person

Some of this work belongs with you. Who gets approved for a unit is your call, made under your screening criteria and the fair housing rules that apply to you. Software can sort the applications, but the decision stays with you. A tenant who just lost a job should get a phone call before a third automated text. Whether to waive a late fee, send a plumber at midnight or start a formal notice is your decision. So is the conversation with an owner who's thinking about selling. I automate the sorting and the reminders so you have more time for those calls.

Before you book the demo

If you're comparing AppFolio pricing, or you're already on it and your cell phone is still the real maintenance line, book a free 20 minute process audit. We'll look at where requests and rent slip through, and whether you need a bigger plan or a small build around the one you have. Book it here.